Spring has finally sprung!  Here are just a few of the new flowers and leaves in western Pennsylvania.

The week began with spectacular saucer magnolia trees, above.  Relentless cold temperatures had kept all the buds closed until they simultaneously burst into an aromatic pink display.  Today the petals coat our sidewalks.

Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) is an early native wildflower that fades so quickly you have to be on the spot to see it bloom.  Thursday morning at Enlow Fork we found the twin leaves open and the buds closed.

By early afternoon the flowers had been open for several hours.  How soon they will fade!

Blue-eyed Mary (Collinsia verna) is a later flower with a longer life on the stem.  It’s just started blooming at Enlow Fork.

The trees are blooming, too.  On Monday redbud (Cercis canadensis) flowers began to appear at Schenley Park …

… hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) unfurled its yellow catkins …

… and the first tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) leaf emerged.

The yellow buckeyes (Aesculus flava) made a big splash of green.

The flowers and trees are much further along and the redbuds are in full bloom today.

Get outdoors to see them fast before they go to seed.

(photos by Kate St. John)